The present invention is intended to provide a collapsible hoist that folds down into the bumper of a truck or the like. Hoists of this type are disclosed in Pendergraft U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,038, issued Dec. 6, 1983 and in Cook U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,263, issued May 24, 1988. These are relatively light duty hoists. They have fixed booms and use cables for load lifting. While their mast and boom assemblies may be rotated, this is done manually. In Pendergraft, the unit may be supported on screw jacks, but these must be manually installed and set. In Cook's hoist, the mast stores a single manually operated jack.
The present invention aims at the provision of certain improvements in hoists of this general type.